


Last One Out

by kiite



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Genre: 5Ds spoilers, Brotherly Love, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, just two brothers talking about their feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-13 23:28:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20182495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiite/pseuds/kiite
Summary: Jack leaves, Crow takes it personally, and Yuusei is stuck in the middle of it all.





	Last One Out

**Author's Note:**

> found an old draft w/ like 700 words already on it, not sure where I was originally going with it but it ended up here. I wrote most of this between 2-4:30 am last night so if there’s typos........yeah
> 
> Takes place during the timeskip near the end of 5Ds

Crow hung his head over the railing, looking down at the vast city sprawling before him. In the early hours of the night, Neo Domino City was aglow with millions of little pinpricks of light, from buildings and streetlights and stars alike. From this scenic little overlook, it was as breathtaking as always. Tonight, it made his heart hurt.

Thinking back, Crow couldn’t believe how much his relationship with the city had changed in only a few years. He had spent the longest time despising Neo Domino from the distant confines of Satellite— particularly from the  _ specific _ confines of Satellite’s jail. When he had looked out past the unfinished Daedalus bridge, across the murky water, at that shining city in the distance… he had felt nothing but resentment, anger at his circumstances. The circumstances Neo Domino had allowed to pass, if not encouraged.

Things started to change the moment Crow stepped foot in Neo Domino. He began to see all the things he hadn’t been able to from the edge of the Daedalus bridge; the city was much more stratified than he had believed. It wasn’t all high-rise buildings and champagne bottles; there were plenty of people struggling to get by, just as Crow had been. 

And then, just like that, Crow realized this place was his home as well. He had roots in Neo Domino now, largely in the people he had met since moving. After the WRGP, once everything had settled down, Crow had come to the same spot as he found himself now. Looking out on the city back then, his heart ached with the weight of his desire to protect it and its citizens. In the end, that desire led him down the path of becoming a cop, surprising pretty much everyone. 

Lost in thought, Crow didn’t hear the D-Wheel pull up to the overlook, nor did he hear its rider dismount and walk his way. It took the gentle weight of a cautious hand on his shoulder to get Crow’s attention, making him jump in surprise and spin around.

Yuusei withdrew his hand and laughed softly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just surprised to see you here.” Yuusei leaned against the railing, staring out over the city. “I guess we had to same idea.”

“Y...yeah,” Crow responded, his heart rate slowly returning to normal. He turned back towards the city himself, occasionally looking at Yuusei out of the corner of his eye. “What’re you doing out here, anyways?” 

“Couldn’t quite say,” Yuusei answered, staring at a spot in the distance. Crow followed his gaze to the large ring-shaped monument on the water. “Feeling nostalgic, I guess. We used to come here a lot, huh?”

“Sure did,” Crow responded automatically, his tone a bit too sharp for his own liking. As much as he treasured the time he was able to spend with his brother nowadays, he wasn’t sure company was the best cure for whatever mood he was in right now. 

Ever perceptive, Yuusei studied his younger brother for a moment. “Do you miss Jack?”  _ Damn it. _ Even under the cover of night, it was hard to hide things from Yuusei. Crow flinched ever so slightly at the question, and cursed himself for it.

“What? No! Of course not,” Crow denied wholeheartedly, nearly laughing at the ridiculous suggestion. Him? Miss  _ Jack?  _ As far as Crow was concerned, Jack was nothing more than a stuck up, arrogant, pompous good-for-nothing who couldn’t hold a job for more than an hour and wasted all their money on whatever he so pleased. He was a fool, an idiot, a jerk, and Crow’s brother, and Crow loved his brothers, and he loved Jack and maybe it wasn’t the same anymore without him around and  _ damn it all to hell… _ “Maybe.”

Yuusei just smiled, a small smile but a smile nonetheless. “I have to be honest, I didn’t think you’d actually admit it. I don’t think Jack will even believe me when I tell him you said that.” 

Any semblance of a good mood Crow may have been building disappeared suddenly. Frowning, he glared downwards towards the water. “Yeah, well, good luck with that. You know as well as I do that he’s not returning calls from either of us.” Crow was filled with the impulse to chuck something over the railing, but decided against it when he realized he had nothing very expendable on his person.

“Don’t take it personally, Crow,” Yuusei said with a soft sigh, “he’s not taking calls from anyone. I’m half convinced he doesn’t even have his phone on him anymore.” Taking his gaze off the ring, Yuusei turned to Crow, a serious expression on his face. “You know he’ll come back, right?”

Crow wanted to bite his tongue until it bled. He wanted to turn around without a word and leave, let the Blackbird take him far away from this conversation. He  _ really _ wanted to throw his keys or radio or  _ something  _ off this damn overlook. Most of all, he wanted to punch himself for what he knew he was about to say, because he knew there was no way to reseal this can of worms once it was open. Yuusei wasn’t the kind of person who would let it go.

“And how the fuck am I supposed to know that?” Crow muttered angrily, his breath puffing out into the cold night air. He didn’t want to yell, not at Yuusei. Yuusei wasn’t the one he was angry at. “He just fucking—  _ takes off _ , without as much as a warning, after everything we’ve been through, he just— just—  _ leaves? _ That’s it? Not even a goodbye?” It took all of Crow’s self control to keep his voice down, but he couldn’t stop the way it cracked.

Yuusei moved his hand to Crow’s back in a comforting gesture. “I know it’s hard right now,” Yuusei assured him, “and it’s hard to accept what he did. But Jack is always trying to get stronger, and he just couldn’t do that anymore within the limits of Neo Domino.” He paused briefly, organizing his thoughts. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t be mad at him. Just… when he finds what he’s looking for, he’ll end up back here. We just have to be patient, and we’ll see him again. He always comes back.”

That was it. For some reason, it was that last bit that pushed Crow’s state of mind from volatile to absolutely enraged. He grabbed Yuusei’s wrist and removed his hand from his back, with much more force than was necessary, and took a step back. His fists were in tight balls by his sides, shaking visibly as he quivered with anger. Crow didn’t even try to stop himself from raising his voice this time.

“Be  _ patient _ ? Well, sorry to say, but I’ve got no fucking patience left. I’m just— I’m done, Yuusei. I’m so goddamn done with waiting around for people I love who clearly don’t feel the same way. It hurts so much, every time, every time for some stupid reason I think people are gonna come back or stick around or just, I dunno, tell me  _ anything?  _ Let me know they want me to be a part of their life? I keep trying so hard and I don’t even know why…” Crow wouldn’t let himself cry here, not now, not when he still had more to say. “So, sorry if I can’t be as patient as you, Yuusei, but I think I’ve spent a lot more time waiting around for you and Jack than you guys ever did for me.”

The tension and discomfort in the air between them was palpable. Yuusei wasn’t looking at him, couldn’t look at him. As soon as he had said it, Crow knew that his last words were a really low blow. The two had previously discussed their time apart, and the way that being so out of the loop had made Crow feel. Yuusei had expressed guilt over not having worked harder to stay in contact with his little brother, and swore to do whatever he could to fix it if Crow ever felt like that again. 

All of Crow’s anger was gone the moment he finished his rant, replaced with a horribly empty sadness and an overwhelming amount of regret. He couldn’t afford to ruin his relationship with the brother that was still around. Yuusei shuffled in place uncomfortably, turning back to glance at his bike as though mapping his escape plan from this awkward scenario, and Crow immediately reached his hand out.

“Shit, Yuusei, I— Please don’t go, I didn’t mean to… I’m sorry. Please don’t leave.” He didn’t know what else to say. When Yuusei made no move to leave, Crow sighed and finally relaxed a little, sitting down on the cold concrete with his back against the railing. 

“I really am sorry about what I said,” Crow started, chin propped up on his knees. “I want to believe he’s coming back, I really do, and I know it’s not easy for you either. I just… Somewhere along the line, I guess I lost the ability to trust people to come back for me. Back before Martha’s, there were a few people who helped me out here and there for a while, but eventually they all just sorta ended up leaving. And then, after Team Satisfaction broke up, it really felt like I was losing the only family I’d ever had.” He sniffed, hoping Yuusei would buy that it was just the cold getting to him. “It feels like I just got my family back, and I’m already losing it again. I just thought we’d all get to be together for a little while longer, is all.”

At some point during his speech, Yuusei had come over and sat down next to Crow, without the younger even really noticing. He wrapped his arm around Crow’s shoulder, gently pulling his brother closer. “I understand, Crow,” Yuusei said softly, even softer than he normally spoke. “Without you… You’re an irreplaceable part of our family, you know that, right? Jack and I, we really didn’t just continue on as brothers in your absence. When I came over here to get Stardust back, Jack almost felt like a stranger.”

“But when you came to Neo Domino, and we all moved in together… that was the first time in a long while that I truly felt like I was home. I would have done anything to keep us all together for just a little longer.” Yuusei’s words made Crow’s heart ache; he had been selfish, thinking he was the only one who cared about keeping the family together. “However, if there’s one thing I know about Jack, it’s that you can’t force him to do anything. Just like back on Satellite, there would have been no point in trying to make him stay here. He would have been unhappy and distant and eventually left anyways.”

Crow nodded a tiny bit, more to himself than to Yuusei. “Yeah. I know that… I know that, I’m just… selfish, I guess. I don’t know. When he leaves like that, it just feels like he doesn’t care, y’know?” He let himself lean into Yuusei’s shoulder, suddenly feeling exhausted. Yuusei did not release his comforting grip on Crow’s shoulder. “Sorry again for all that dumb stuff I said. I wasn’t thinking. I know this is hard on both of us, everybody going their own ways and all. It’s not fair to take it out on you.” 

Yuusei hummed an affirmation. “Even if we don’t have our marks anymore,” he started, gloved hand instinctively ghosting over his forearm where his Signer mark once resided, “We’re still connected, all of us. You, me, Jack, Aki, Rua, Ruka…” he swallowed hard, looking up at the starry night sky, “...Bruno, too. No matter where we go, or what happens, the ties of our friendship will never be broken. That’s what it means to be a team.”

“A team,” Crow echoed, moving his own hand to where his mark had once been. He managed a smile he didn’t think he was capable of. “Yeah, we are a team, aren’t we? Team 5Ds may not ride together anymore, but we’re still here. We’ll always be here.” He looked up at his brother, ever the paragon of hope in Team 5Ds’ darkest days. His time away from the action of turbo dueling hadn’t lessened his ability to inspire others one bit.

“Thanks, Yuusei. I mean it,” Crow spoke quietly, as if he were afraid to ruin the moment. “I think I really, really needed to hear that.” His head drooped a bit as he realized just how tired he was. “You can like, punch me in the arm or something if you want. Since I was a jerk before.”

Yuusei just laughed, a real genuine laugh that few people were able to get out of him. “I’m not going to punch you, Crow. I’m sorry for not realizing you were so upset; I don’t want things to be like how they were back on Satellite.” He noticed the way Crow was huddled, and moved to get up.

“It’s gotten pretty cold out, hasn’t it?” Yuusei remarked, watching his own breath drift into the sky. “You look tired. Want to crash at my place tonight? It’s a lot closer than yours, and I’ve got a futon,” he offered, extending a hand to help Crow up.

Crow looked at him for a moment, before reaching out to take Yuusei’s hand. “Yeah,” he breathed, smiling, “that’d be nice.”

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for all the crow introspection fics. I won’t stop


End file.
